Space Weather News for Nov. 27, 2024
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BLACK AURORAS OVER ALASKA? Todd Salat is a veteran photographer of auroras in Alaska. For years he has chased the lights and seen most of what Mother Nature has to offer. But even he was puzzled on Nov. 22nd when these strangely-shaped auroras appeared overhead:

“I saw these bizarre auroras drift over southcentral Alaska around 4 am last Friday morning,” says Salat. “It came up from the northwest and I was like, whoa! It looked like the letter E to me.”

Salat may have witnessed an episode of ‘black auroras.’ They are dark rings or black blobs that sometimes appear in an otherwise ordinary expanse of auroral light. For example, look at Figure 1 in this research paper on the topic. Some researchers call them “anti-auroras.” The black auroras in Salat’s photo are circled here.

Ordinary auroras are caused by electrons raining down from space. Black auroras are the opposite. Instead of electrons raining down, electrons are propelled upwards back into space. Europe’s fleet of Cluster spacecraft flew over a black aurora on Jan. 14, 2001, and saw the process in action:

Sensors onboard the spacecraft detected strong positive electric fields in the black aurora zone. These fields reversed the normal downward rain of aurora-causing electrons.

The study of black auroras is still in its infancy, and forecasters cannot yet predict when or where they might appear. Aurora watchers, the next time a geomagnetic storm erupts, be alert for black.

5) THANK YOU

We thank club members Brian Knapp, Joe Aspler, Cathy Palmer-Lister, and Keith Braithwaite for their contributions to this afternoon’s programming, and tip our hat, as well, to all of our contributing participants, and everyone who helped to plan and run this meeting. Finally, of course, we thank all of you who joined us here in person, and on ZOOM; don’t forget to comment on today’s get-together (www.MonSFFA.ca).

6) NEXT MONTH’S EVENT: CHRISTMAS/HOLIDAY DINNER PARTY!

We are pleased to invite all MonSFFen, their families, and friends of the club to our 2024 Christmas and Holiday Dinner Party!

This year, the club will celebrate Christmas, and the festive season broadly, on Saturday evening, December 7, at 6:30PM. In keeping with our tradition, we will gather at a downtown restaurant/bar for dinner and drinks, and hold our traditional fund-raising Christmas-gift raffle.

As Le Nouvel Hotel includes a restaurant, and everyone is already familiar with the hotel’s address, we thought we’d give said restaurant a try! Situated in the building’s south tower, or condo tower, the Novella Restaurant is easy to find. Simply walk down the glass corridor, as if to a regular MonSFFA meeting, but turn right instead of left at the elevators; the Novella is right there.

Join us for an evening of dining and merriment as we celebrate the season!

7) SIGN-OFF

Thanks for taking part, today, and indeed, this year! Remember, the enthusiastic involvement of its members is what makes MonSFFA a whole lot of sci-fi fun, and keeps the club a going concern! We hope to see everyone at the Christmas/Holiday Dinner Party next month, and again in 2025!

1) INTRODUCTION

Welcome to MonSFFA’s November 2024 meeting! This will be our last regular club meeting of the year. In early December, we’ll be hosting our traditional Christmas/Holiday Dinner Party—we return to a downtown restaurant this year! The dinner will wrap up our activities for 2024!

Today’s proceedings will be getting underway shortly. We are meeting live and in person at our meeting room in Le Nouvel Hotel, downtown! For those joining us online, today, see the instructions, below (at the end of this post), to join in and participate on ZOOM.

Our programming agenda begins at 1:00PM; the meeting will conclude at 5:00PM. This opening post has gone up 30 minutes before the meeting’s start time to allow folk to gather online at their leisure.

A closing post will go up at 5:00PM to officially thank today’s presenters/discussion moderators, and to publish the date of the next MonSFFA event, our Christmas and Holiday Dinner Party.

2) MEETING THEME FOR NOVEMBER

We’ll be tapping the membership for suggestions and ideas as to next year’s meeting programming. So, members are encouraged to come to the meeting with a few ideas as to SF&F topics they’d like us to explore in 2025! Your input is welcome and valued!

3) THIS AFTERNOON’S AGENDA

Today’s programming agenda is as follows:

1:00PM – Report on the Return of the Super Sci-Fi Book Sale

Our treasurer will present a report on the return of the club’s Super Sci-Fi Book Sale, held last month. A major fund-raiser for the club, this annual event was put on hiatus during the pandemic years and finally resumed after a five-year absence.

1:30PM – Get a Wonderful Life: Christmas and the Festive Season in SF&F

We look at some of the many genre stories, in print and on screen, that prominently feature Christmas and the Holidays!

2:30PM – Ho, Ho, Huh?!—Game

A quick game focused on the Festive Season!

3:00PM – Break

Raffle, announcements, brief discussion of club business.

3:15PM – Meeting Programming for 2025

We brainstorm ideas for next year’s meeting programming! Your suggestions as to topics for our discussions, presentations, and workshops are most welcome! Let us know what you’d like to see at a MonSFFA meeting in 2025!

4:45PM – Wrap-Up, Clean-Up!

We close another year of MonSFFA meetings while looking forward to our Christmas celebrations in December, and then, the New Year!

Please Note: While we strive to keep on schedule, we do, sometimes, fall behind a little, or find ourselves having to reshuffle the order of items on the agenda for one reason or another, or reschedule planned presentations/discussions. Therefore, please understand that all programming is subject to change!

4) JOIN THIS AFTERNOON’S VIDEO-CHAT ON ZOOM!

To take part in this afternoon’s meeting online, join our ZOOM video-chat, which will run throughout the next few hours. Simply click here and follow the prompts: This Afternoon’s MonSFFA Meeting on ZOOM

If you’re not fully equipped to ZOOM, you can also take part by phone (voice only); in the Montreal area, the toll-free number to call is: 1-438-809-7799. From out of town? No problem; find your ZOOM call-in number here: Call-In Numbers

Also, have this information on hand as you may be asked to enter it:

Meeting ID: 862 0441 7457
Passcode: 232651

The sci-fi fun begins at 1:00PM! Thanks for joining us today, and enjoy the meeting!

MonSFFA will hold its last regular meeting of 2024 this afternoon, Saturday, November 23! We will gather in our usual “Salle Maisonneuve” meeting room at the Nouvel Hotel at 1:00PM. The meeting will also be simulcast on ZOOM, for our out-of-towners; watch for the first November-meeting post to go up on this Website at 12:30PM today.

The last club activities of the year, our Christmas and Holiday celebrations, will take place in early December; more on that later.

With the season upon us, among the topics we’ll be exploring today are Christmas/Holiday-themed SF in both print and on screen. We also have a fun game prepared, and we’ll be tapping the membership for suggestions and ideas for next year’s meeting programming. So, members are encouraged to come to the meeting with a few ideas as to SF&F topics they’d like us to explore in 2025! Your input is welcome and valued!

Note: the latest issue of Impulse was distributed electronically earlier this week. However, due to the ongoing nation-wide postal strike, the print version was not mailed out, as usual. Copies will be made available at the soonest possible date (once the strike is settled), we hope in time for our Christmas/Holiday celebrations in early December, or if not, then  simply for those who may be want a physical copy for their collections.

See You All This Afternoon…

The latest issue of MonSFFA’s News Bulletin, Impulse, has been distributed to club members electronically, and is also archived right here on the club’s Web site. Visit the “Impulse” page, or just click here: Impulse, November-December 2024

NOTE: The ongoing postal strike has disrupted our usual mailing of print copies to MonSFFen without Web access; this will be rectified as soon as the strike is over and mail delivery resumes, hopefully in time for our December 7 Christmas/Holiday Dinner Party!

Enjoy the e-version of the November-December 2024 Impulse!

MonSFFA will hold its last regular meeting of 2024 tomorrow, Saturday, November 23! We will gather in our usual “Salle Maisonneuve” meeting room at the Nouvel Hotel at 1:00PM. (The last club activities of the year, our Christmas and Holiday celebrations, will take place in early December.)

With the season upon us, among the topics we’ll be exploring are Christmas/Holiday-themed SF in both print and on screen. We’ll also be tapping the membership for suggestions and ideas for next year’s meeting programming. So, members are encouraged to come to the meeting with a few ideas as to SF&F topics they’d like us to explore in 2025! Your input is welcome and valued!

Note: the latest issue of Impulse was distributed electronically earlier this week. However, due to the ongoing nation-wide postal strike, the print version was not mailed out, as usual. Copies will be made available at the soonest possible date (once the strike is settled), we hope in time for our Christmas/Holiday celebrations in early December, or if not, then  simply for those who may be want a physical copy for their collections.

See You All Tomorrow…

MonSFFA will hold its last regular meeting of 2024 this Saturday, November 23! We will gather in our usual “Salle Maisonneuve” meeting room at the Nouvel Hotel at 1:00PM. (The last club activities of the year, our Christmas and Holiday celebrations, will take place in early December.)

With the season upon us, among the topics we’ll be exploring are Christmas/Holiday-themed SF in both print and on screen. We’ll also be tapping the membership for suggestions and ideas for next year’s meeting programming. So, members are encouraged to come to the meeting with a few ideas as to SF&F topics they’d like us to explore in 2025! Your input is welcome and valued!

Note: the latest issue of Impulse will be distributed electronically tomorrow. However, due to the ongoing nation-wide postal strike, the print version will not be mailed out, as usual. Copies will be made available at the soonest possible date, for those who may be collecting the news bulletin.

See You All This Saturday…